Pariah (A Kurt Muller Mystery)

by: Thomas Zigal

Published by: The Toby Press

Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart

The 1960s wouldn’t have been complete without super blues idol Rocky Rhodes. He was the greatest blues musician to ever live. That is until his unfortunate death in Aspen, where he fell through a deck railing onto the rocks below. But that was twenty years ago. Nicole Bauer, his abused lover, was tried for murder. Now Nicole is receiving threatening phone calls and letters from a voice she recognizes: Rocky!

And so is the premise for Thomas Zigal’s new Kurt Muller mystery, Pariah. Nicole lures Sheriff Kurt Muller to her tucked-away mansion in the mountains to help her stop Rocky from tormenting her. She is convinced it’s him. After all, would anyone else have his ring; the ring he was wearing when his body was stolen from the morgue and cremated in Arizona? Not likely!

Kurt, facing a recall vote, doesn’t believe Nicole, but soon he spots a cadaver-like shadow that may just turn out to be Rocky. The voice, the hair, the ring. These things add up. The key to the whole ghost/apparition seem to lie in Nicole and Rocky’s past and a woman with a butterfly tattoo named Mariah, whom Rocky often referred to as Pariah.

Zigal’s character development is flawless and his execution of the plot is equally superb. As well as a five-star mystery, Zigal, a Texan, does a great job with the details of the Colorado Rockies, snow and all. I loved the snow. The writing is taut and tingling.

I must admit that I snuck the Pariah into my office to snatch a few precious minutes of reading time–and I read the entire novel in less than twenty-four hours. I was sure Rocky had somehow faked his own death way back when and was now ready for vengeance. There was one little clue that was rather jarring, but I didn’t figure this first-class who-done-it until the very end.

Armchair Interviews says: This book has it all–good story, characters and storytelling.

Author’s Web site: http://www.ThomasZigal.com